Edinburgh definitely lived up to the hype. This was, I think, my favorite place of all the places we have been since we moved to England. On Friday after our long train ride, we were anxious to start seeing the sites, so we went for a walk around the city. Edinburgh is actually a lot smaller than expected and you can walk around the city pretty easily. We walked to the Edinburgh castle and then down the Royal Mile a little. There are tons of pubs and shops and it is exactly how you would visualize Scotland: pubs every two steps, colorful buildings and store fronts, shops that specialize in kilts, fudge, Christmas decorations, maps and books and vendors set up in front of the store fronts selling Scottish Celtic hand carved stones, handmade journals, lambswool tartan blankets, paintings, jewelry and of course, there are men wearing kilts and playing bagpipes. The Royal Mile starts at the Castle and ends at Holyrood Palace and everything in between is shopping. You can see the ocean from almost anywhere on the mile and it is breathtaking and scenic. What the guidebooks don't tell you about Scotland: The mile is a hill…a fairly steep hill. Going down towards the Palace is easy – coming back up, eh, not so much, especially pushing a stroller. Actually, all of Edinburgh is very hilly. The Castle is on an old inactive volcano and right behind the Palace is Arthur’s Seat – also part of a volcano that rises above the city for a great view of Edinburgh. The other thing no one mentions –the weather. I expected it to be cooler and a little rainier than England – and it was, but the wind…we were not expecting. And the sideways, gusty rain – another surprise. But luckily, Friday and Saturday were uncharacteristically warm and sunny. Sunday we had a backup plan of indoor activities and today was cooler, and fortunately did not start raining until we were almost to the train station for our ride home. We had an amazing time, but it will take several posts to describe everything we did in the detail that I would like. So for now, here are a few pictures, but check back over the next few days for details on some of our events and activities from our fun weekend in Scotland.
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